Ming Dynasty

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In 1368，Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing and his general Xu Da captured Dadu.The last Yuan court fled to the steppes.Dadu’s imperial palace was razed and the city was renamed Beiping（”Northern Peace”）.Nanjing，also known as Yingtian Fu became the Jingshi or the capital of the new dynasty.Two years later，the founding Hongwu Emperor conferred Beiping to his fourthson Zhu Di who at the age of ten became the-Prince of Yan.Zhu Di did not move to Beiping until 1380 but quickly built up his military power in defense of the northern frontier.The Hongwu Emperor was predeceased by his three eldest sons and when he died in 1398，the throne was passed down to Zhu Yunwen，the heir of his crown prince.The new emperor sought to curtail his uncle’s power in Beiping and a bitter power struggle ensued.After a four-year civil war，Zhu Di 三seized Nanjing in 1402，and declared himself the Yongle Emperor.As the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty，he was not content to stay in Nanjing.

In 1403，the Yongle Emperor renamed his home base Beijing，（the”Northern Capital”）and elevated the city to the status of centrally administered city on par with Nanjing.For the first time，Beijing took on its modern name，though it was also known as Shuntian Fu.From1403 to 1421，Yongle prepared Beijing to be his new capital with a massive reconstruction program.Some of Beijing’s most iconic historical buildings，including the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven，were built for Yongle’s capital.

In 1421，Yongle moved the Jingshi of the Ming to Beijing，which made Beijing the main capital of the Ming Dynasty.After he died in

1424while returning from his fifth campaign against the Mongols，his son，the Hongxi Emperor，ordered the capital be moved back to Nanjing，but died of illness in 1425.Hongxi’s son，the Xuande Emperor，was sent to Nanjing to prepare for the move，but he chose tokeep the capital in Beijing.Like his grandfather，the Xuande Emperor was interested in monitoring affairs on the northern frontier.Most ofthe Great Wall in northern Beijing Municipality were built during the Ming Dynasty.

In the early Ming Dynasty，the northern part of old Dadu was depopulated and abandoned.In 1369，the city’s population had been reduced to 95，000 with only 113，000 in the surrounding region.

A new northern wall was built 2.5 km to the south of the old wall，leaving the Jishuitan reservoir outside the city as part of the northern moat.A new southern wall of the city was built half a kilometer south of the southern Dadu wall.These changes completed the inner city wall of Beijing which had nine gates（three in the south and two each to the north，east and west）.

In 1550，Altan Khan led a Khalkha Mongol raid on Beijing that pillaged the northern suburbs but did not attempt to take the city.To protect the city’s southern suburbs，including neighborhoods from the Liao and Jin-eras and the Temple of Heaven，the outer city wall was built in 1553.The outer city wall had seven gates:three to the south，two each to the east and west.The inner and outer Ming city walls stood until in the 1960s when they were pulled down to build the Beijing Subway and the 2nd Ring Road.

Jesuit missions reached Beijing at the turn of the 16th century.In 1601，Matteo Ricci became an advisor to the Ming Court of Emperor Wanli and the first Westerner to have access to the Forbidden City.He established the Nantang Cathedral in 1605，the oldest Catholic church in the city.Other Jesuits later became directors of Beijing’s Imperial Observatory.

During the late Ming，Beijing faced threats from both within and beyond the Great Wall.In 1629，the newly ascendant Manchus，semi-nomadic people from Northeast China led by Hong Taiji，launched a raid on Beijing but were defeated outside the outer city walls at Guangqumen and Zuoanmen by Ming commander Yuan Chonghuan.After retreating north，Hong Taiji deceived the Ming Emperor Chongzhen into believing that Yuan Chonghuan had actually betrayed the Ming.In 1630，Chongzhen had Yuan executed in publicat Caishikou.Yuan was rehabilitated 150 years later by the Qing Emperor Qianlong and his tomb near Guangqumen is now a shrine.

Also in 1629，Li Zicheng launched a peasant rebellion in northwest China and captured Beijing after 15 years of conquest in March 1644.The Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide by hanging himself on a tree in Jingshan.Li proclaimed himself emperor of the Shun Dynasty，but he was defeated at Shanhaiguan by Ming general Wu Sangui and the Manchu Prince Dorgon.They drove Li Zicheng from Beijing in late April.